ALBANY – Gov. Paterson will scurry off to a “junket” in a swank Swiss town this week, escaping from New York just days after his disastrous effort to chose Hillary Rodham Clinton’s Senate replacement, The Post has learned.

Two sources with knowledge of Paterson’s activities confirmed that the governor will be heading to the World Economic Forum in super-rich Davos, the largest resort in the Alps, later this week.

The insiders said that Paterson’s attendance at the gathering of important world leaders, was difficult to justify in light of the state’s increasingly severe fiscal problems.

“Why is the governor going to Switzerland when the state faces a $15 billion budget deficit and a week after he was partying in Washington?” one source asked.

Last week, Paterson lugged along an entourage of relatives, six aides and what sources said were “at least” a dozen state troopers for a four-day stay in Washington during President Obama’s inauguration, at a taxpayer cost of well over $20,000.

The second source called the Swiss trip a “junket” that would likely “reinforce David’s reputation among those who know him for liking to party more than he likes to work.”

A Paterson aide last night said the trip would be funded by the state. Along for the ride would likely be at least two aides, David Johnson and press secretary Errol Cockfield, as well as a State Police security detail.

The governor’s spokeswoman Marissa Shorenstein said Paterson would leave for Europe on Thursday and would likely return on Feb. 1. She said the state would cough up $4,700 for airfare and hotels for Paterson and the two aides.

But the spokeswoman said she didn’t know the cost of the governor’s State Police security detail and refused to provide the number of officers involved.

Shorenstein said Paterson, who has never held a private-sector or federal job, would lead a discussion at the event titled US Governmental and Private-sector Economic Issues, and participate in other discussions.

Former Gov. George Pataki attended the conference in 2001, giving a speech on the Internet called E-Government, the Next Revolution.

Meanwhile, newly minted Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who’ll be officially sworn in Tuesday, is meeting with the woman she replaced, Secretary of State Clinton, in Midtown today.

Rep. Peter King (R-LI), who may run against Gillibrand in 2010, is pushing for a full accounting of the governor’s selection process.

“He should lay out a total timeline,” said King. “Why such an unusual choice after such a bizarre process?”